


Rebel

by BlizzardMist



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Gen, Oh whale, Written in an exam, in like 1 hour by hand so be nice, non-au, not accurate, word vomit, written like the day after felix got eliminated, written pre ep 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlizzardMist/pseuds/BlizzardMist
Summary: Prompt: Write a story which involves breaking a rule.Chan never thought of himself as a rule breaker, but that was about to change.





	1. Chapter 1

Chan, at twenty years old, knew that he wasn’t capable of leading a team perfectly, he didn’t trust in his abilities that much. However, he definitely did not expect to have messed up as badly as he did. 

Seven years ago, Chan’ mother opened one letter, and then the young boy found himself on the other side of an ocean in Seoul. An entertainment company, one that he was not yet familiar with, had decided that they desperately needed to pluck a prepubescent Korean-Australian kid from his family and insert him into a new boy group. Yet after seven years, a band, boy group, two girl groups and countless soloists, Chan was still in the dungeon, waiting impatiently for his debut.

At some point in year seven, Chan decided that enough was enough, and took matters into his own hands. If the company wasn’t going to give him a group, then he would make one himself. Among the many hopefuls in the company, he found only eight who were willing to join him in his conquest. Most objected, saying that it was against the rules, but Chan knew very well, there was no rule about that. He wasn’t a rule-breaker.

Over the seven months they spent together as a team, they grew closer, finally got noticed, and watched another artist debut. While none of the nine members would ever admit that they had their favorite teammate, it was quite obvious to anyone that this was the case. For Chan, this was Felix. Chan didn’t know exactly why he became so close to the younger bo; maybe it was because he saw himself in him.

When the team was created, Felix had just moved from Sydney one month prior, and spoke about fifty words of Korean. Just two months later, with some help from the others, he was the most talkative person they had ever met, and sometimes Chan wished Felix had never learnt Korean (he would never admit that though). Aside from the occasional slip-up, Felix had become good enough at Korean to survive on his own, and the directors of the company soon started taking a closer look at their team. 

Maybe being ignored was for the best, Chan thought, when the company threw them into a new survival show. The director had said that either they all debut, or none of them. They were all uncomfortable under the constant stare of the cameras, and suddenly, privacy didn’t exist anymore.

Minho, a dance prodigy who had been a backup dancer for multiple artists, was the first to be eliminated. Chan felt betrayed. Nine or none, they said, yet they go back on their words? But he also felt responsible in some way. “If only I had pushed him harder, maybe it wouldn’t have ended like this.” The thoughts raced through his head, while he just waited to hear, it’s just a joke.

There was no joke. The company confiscated their phones, deleted Minho’s number, and decided that there would be a new rule.

“You are not allowed to talk to or contact the eliminated trainees. They will have to move back home and cut ties.”

It wasn’t fair, Chan knew that, but he was too scared to fight back, to lose what he wasted seven years waiting for. So he tried to get everyone back into the normal swing of things, hoping that they could recover from their loss.

For those who had not yet turned eighteen, which was over half of the group, the rule was that one must be back in the dorms by midnight. One day though, it reached one in the morning, and Chan noticed Felix’s absence. There was only one place where he would be at this time, and so Chan donned his coat and headed out into the cold, bleak winter night.

The dance studio reeked of sweat as always, and the wooden floors had acquired a variety of stains (there was no way to tell the difference to tell the difference between a stain from ketchup, gochujang, or blood, but the majority were definitely blood.) As expected, the younger member was still there, dancing as if his life depended on it, and Chan remembered, not for the first time, exactly how dedicated and hardworking Felix was. Chan turned off the music.

“How long have you been here, Felix?” Chan laughed, but there was no warmth or humor in the laugh — Felix knew that Chan wasn’t joking. “You need to get some sleep.”

“Sorry.”

Sorry. That single word echoed in Chan’s mind when the directors met with them again. 

“Felix, you’ve been eliminated.”

And then time seemed to slow down. The directors left, and all the strength they had been mustering up violently collapsed.

“I’ll always be there, okay? I’m not going to leave you behind.” Chan had cried to Felix, and then decided that, no, that was not an empty statement. He was not going to leave him, or anyone behind. Maybe, just for once, he could break the rules.

While Chan wasn’t allowed to talk to Minho, Minho’s mother was not off limits, and so Chan found himself begging her to help him. It wasn’t right, he argued, that the company could go back on their word like that, and he knew that he could convince the company to bring Felix and Minho back. Felix just needed somewhere to stay, until he could fix the situation.

“Chan-ya, darling, I know you want the best for them, but you’re putting too much pressure on yourself.” Mrs. Lee, Minho’s mother, had always acted as his mother in Seoul, so he knew, from the moment she started speaking, there was no way that she would approve of his almost insane plan. She paused. “But fine. I’ll help you. Just don’t get carried away.”

“Thanks, mom!” He beamed, and the others gave him a strange look. “Love you!”

Chan decided that he had a talent in bending the rules. Since Felix had nowhere to go yet, he still lived with the others in the dorms. All the flights were full, and so Felix was just waiting for the company to come and ship him off. The young boy was sat on his bed all alone, when Chan barged in and ripped the boy’s phone out of his hands.

“Hey! Chan, what are you doing?” Felix grasped at the elder’s hands, but could not reach the phone, and so with a defeated “Hmph!”, collapsed back onto the bed. Chan scribbled something onto his hand, and then exited stage left. 

Chan wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear down the other line. Maybe Felix’s sisters in the background, or the honking of cars. Yet he heard none of that, but instead a comfortingly familiar Australian accent, “Hello?”

Felix’s father, thank whoever, approved completely of the crazy plan that Chan had, and Chan could safely say that everything was going to plan. (Except for the fact that he had to break the rules twice, but that could be excused, right?)

Chan realised that his efforts were completely wasted when the directors came to talk to him. “You’ll be debuting as nine in the new year.” He celebrated, happy that everything would work out, but a small question lingered in the back of his mind. Why did they have to eliminate Felix and Minho?

“It was to increase ratings,” they replied, and Chan felt disgust rising up in him. A child’s happiness, sacrificed for ratings? What kind of sick, twisted industry was this? But it didn’t matter anymore, he tried to believe. It all worked out well in the end.

The group made their debut not long after New Year’s Day, under the name “Stray Kids”, a name that Chan thought, perfectly represented their team. And as they performed on the public stage for the first time and the cheers of the crowd nearly drowned out their singing, he thought, “Maybe I am capable of leading a team after all.

(His rule breaking did not go unpunished though. The company said that although they admired his loyalty and dedication, rules were still rules, and he would be on cleaning duty for the next two months. Chan didn’t really mind though, except for the times when he realised that cleaning up after eight other boys was that much harder than cleaning up after six. “I did bring it on myself”, he sighed then gritted his teeth and reluctantly began washing the dishes.)


	2. The original phone scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The original phone scene

While Chan was from Vienna, Felix’s family came from a rural part of Switzerland, so he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when he called. Maybe a cow or two mooing, or an Alpenhorn blowing in the distance. 

He did not, however, expect to be confused. “Hello?”, he asked, wondering if he had actually dialled the right number.

There was a man speaking, but he couldn’t exactly tell what it was. It wasn’t French, like he first thought, as he knew enough basic French to know that what the man was saying was not “Bonjour.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong number.” He prepared to hang up, but then heard someone in the background asking, “Have you heard from Felix?”

His conversation with Felix’s father went well, once he realised that, A. In Switzerland they speak Swiss German, a completely different dialect, and B. There were no cows around. Everything was going to plan. (Except for the fact that he had to break the rules twice, but that could be excused, right?)

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone was wondering, I got 13/25 on this story, because the marker stopped reading on like page 3 of 7.5. Luckily it was my mock exam.
> 
> Also, originally, it was set in New York, Chan was Austrian, Felix was Swiss and the phone scene revolved around the fact that Felix was Swiss. I changed it a bit. I’ll put the original phone scene in another chapter.


End file.
